Selena Gomez Wants to Learn Spanish and Is Proud of Her Mexican Heritage ‘Now More Than Ever’

Selena Gomez has some new goals entering 2018 that shine a light on her Latin roots. In the Harper’s Bazaar March cover story, the “Wolves” singer opened up to 13 Reasons Why star Katherine Langford about wanting to learn Spanish and the importance of her Mexican background.

“I look at myself in the mirror every day and think, ‘Man, I wish I knew more Spanish,’ admitted Gomez. She also a recalled of a life-changing time during her Disney days where she met a single Latina mother on the set of Wizards of Waverly Place. “[The mother] was like, ‘It’s really incredible for my daughters to see that a Latina woman can be in this position and achieve her dreams, someone who isn’t the typical, you know, blonde with blue eyes,'” she said. This moment hit home for the 25-year-old, who remembered wanting to look like other Disney stars and realizing what she was bringing to the table. “When I was younger, my idol was Hilary Duff! I remember wanting blue eyes too,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “So I think I recognized then that it meant something to people. That it matters.”

Alexi Lubomirski

Gomez, whose father is of Mexican descent, has strayed away from speaking of her personal experience as Latina in Hollywood but she is now revealing why. “Most of the time, though, I try to separate my career from my culture because I don’t want people to judge me based on my looks when they have no idea who I am,” she said. “And now more than ever, I’m proud of it. But I still need to learn Spanish [laughs].”

It seems that learning Spanish has been a long-time goal for Gomez, who made a similar confession to Show Biz Cafe in 2013. “It’s a shame because I should know it better than I do,” she said. Maybe her recent trip to her childhood home in Grand Prairie, Texas, last month will serve as motivation. The singer shared a photo of herself on Instagram perched on the doorstep of the house where she spent her youth.